Bummer of Love?
The fortieth anniversary of the Summer of Love looms large. It's only a number, of course, but editors need hooks, the era continues to send out ripples of interest, and many of its key figures are still alive and kicking (while others are not).
England's Guardian sent one of its best reporters, Ed Vulliamy, to the Bay Area recently. His "Love and Haight" is a two-part, where-are-they-now feature consisting of visits with sixtysomethings "Country" Joe McDonald, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, Quicksilver Messenger Service's Gary Duncan, Steppenwolf's John Kay, Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner, poster artist Stanley Mouse, actor Peter Coyote, and others.
Four decades on, Country Joe is still belting out the profane "Fish Cheer" and singing the "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" - although its chorus's final destination has been changed from Vietnam to Iran. A 'twas-ever-thus feeling pervades many of these interviews, and you come away with the impression that now is a lot like then, only slightly different. As Country Joe puts it:
You know, some things are hard-sell: like war in Vietnam or Iraq, and fundamentalist religion -- you have to keep going on and on about it all the time. But how hard is it to sell peace, love and rock'n'roll? I'm not an advocate of getting stoned -- any more -- so let's say it's like offering someone a cool beer on a sunny day. Who's going to say "Oh no, not that stuff" - hey, they're going to say, "that's nice, I'll take a barrel of that."
Bob Weir laments the toll fame took on bandmate Jerry Garcia, and manages to put a positive spin on the era:
"Yes, there was LSD. But Haight Ashbury was not about drugs. It was about exploration, finding new way of expression, being aware of one's existence." In contrast to what he saw as the political ideologues, "we wanted everyone to be their own leader. Ideology never meets reality with any grace."Artist Stanley Mouse is less nostalgic:
"I can't stand all this revisiting," he complains. "[Y]ou can't go on having your 21st birthday over and over. People don't understand why I slam it all. It was interesting until all the crazies started hitching to San Francisco and all the hard drugs came in."
The Summer of Love was mainly a victim of its own success; it went mass media in a flash. The New York Times runs down some of the "21st birthday" celebrations we have to look forward to, including the "Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era" show opening Thursday in New York's Whitney Museum, in "Welcome Back, Starshine." John Leland writes:
"In contrast to the first time around, this summer's activities will be spectator events, not participatory ones, replaying the Summer of Love as something you watch, not something you do. There will be comfortable seating and refreshments. And though there will likely be references to the current war, the art will still be fighting the last one, reflecting the songs and sensibilities not of the Iraq grunts' generation but of their parents'."